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TOKYO, May 19 (AFP) - Tokyo's spat with Beijing over North Korean refugees
has created problems for a Japanese zoo, which is worrying a pair of giant
pandas borrowed from China for breeding might be both female, officials said
Sunday.
Oji Zoo, run by the western Japan city of Kobe, leased the pair from a
Chinese research institution in July 2000 for a 10-year joint breeding project.
But the zoo is concerned about the reproductive capability of the
five-year-old supposedly-male panda -- registered internationally as "Jin Zhu"
but nicknamed "Koko" in Japan -- after it failed to become aroused during this
breeding season.
"It is hard to tell the sex of pandas ... but they usually start showing
signs such as more obvious testicles as they approach reproductive ages of
six-to-seven years," Oji Zoo's vice chief Osamu Ishikawa said.
Zoo officials examined it by the hand but only found such signs were
"missing," he said, adding the panda might be incapable of breeding like 90
percent of male pandas, or a female.
"We need to ask for opinions of Chinese experts ... but have not made
formal contact as relations between China and Japan are pretty tangled at the
moment," Ishikawa said.
Ishikawa was referring to five North Koreans' attempt to enter the Japanese
consulate in the northeastern Chinese city of Shenyang on May 8 and the
resulting diplomatic tensions.
The two nations have locked horns over whether Chinese police officers
dragged all five from the consulate without Japanese permission.
"Things would be much easier if the two zoos could talk, but we need to
negotiate through the Chinese government," Ishikawa said.
The zoo's Chinese office has approached the Chinese government informally
but has got no reply, he added.
The partner institution is literally called Chinese Research Centre for
Giant Panda Protection, which is under direct supervision of the forestry
bureau, he said.
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